This document provides guidance on conducting design research to understand user needs and problems. It emphasizes the importance of designing the right thing by truly understanding user behaviors and problems through methods like observation, interviews, and trying tasks yourself. The document outlines frameworks for interviews and synthesis techniques like archetypes and user journeys to organize research findings. It also discusses designing the thing right by matching user mental models to create intuitive products. Overall, the document promotes understanding user behaviors and problems deeply through research before attempting to design solutions.

1. Design Research guide
HJ Kwon : @hatchejota

2. Design the right thing,
before designing the thing right
why design research matters to us
BECAUSE IT SUCKS BUILDING SOMETHING FOR 9 MONTHS ONLY TO
FIND OUT NO ONE ACTUALLY WANTS TO USE IT

3. Any solution can only be as good as
the depth of understanding of the
problem.
DESIGNING THE RIGHT THING IS ABOUT ASKING
“WHAT IS A GOOD PROBLEM TO SOLVE?”

4. If I had an hour to solve a problem
I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about
the problem and 5 minutes thinking
about solutions
-Albert Einstein

5. Designers often try to solve a design problem while simultaneously
trying to understand the design problem…. Design research and
synthesis lies between problem finding and problem solving acting
as a form of problem understanding.
- Exposing the Magic of Design by Jon Kolko
Design research helps us truly understand the problem rather than trying to
solve a problem we don’t truly understand yet.

6. Empathy gives us a deep understanding of the
problems of others
It helps us ultimately design the right thing because
we can see, feel, and understand the perspectives of
people who are different from ourselves.

7. We gain empathy for
people in 3 ways
OBSERVE
LISTEN
TRY IT
OURSELVES
but let’s start
with listening

8. 1. What are people trying to get done?
2. How do they currently do this?
3. What could be better about how they do this?
Interviews are based around actual behaviors not attitudes or opinions,
All variations of interview questions gives us answers to these 3 questions

9. “would you use this if…..”
asking hypothetical questions about the future
“so what do you think of my idea?”
directly pitching your idea
Here are two types of questions to avoid but seem
intuitive

10. It’s the users job to tell us about their problems,
it’s our job as designers to solve it.
We don’t act on the user’s request, we act on their behalf

11. “Are you interested in working out?..”
People don’t say what they mean,
and don’t mean what they say
Attitudes help us understand what
people think but are a poor
reflection of actual behavior.
People are bad at predicting what
they’ll do in the future. It’s not that
we don’t value what people think,
it’s just that we can’t make design
mandates solely based on people’s
opinions.
Instead of asking…
…a better question is
“How many times have you exercised
in the past month?”
EVERYONE WILL
SAY YES TO THIS

12. “You may say that you like Blond,
Jewish, Democrats but you have a
habit of reaching out to pot-smoking,
Indian, Republicans..
This is called Revealed Preference”
- “Looking for someone”, New Yorker
Stated vs Revealed preferences
Online dating sites know that what
people say doesn’t always match
their behavior so their design has to
accommodate attitudes + actual
behavior.
They call this difference Stated vs
Revealed preferences. Our products
messaging should reflect stated
preferences, but the designs should
be based off of revealed preferences.

13. The things we find attractive in an online dating
profile have almost nothing to do with the things
that we find attractive in a real life person when
we’re sitting in from of them.
We react to a person’s behavior but what we see
in a profile are attitudes, preferences, and
background characteristics.
- Benjamin Karney, UCLA psychology professor

14. Short answer
5 - 20
Long answer
Typically we would speak with 5-20 people.You’ll start seeing clear patterns after
speaking with a few carefully selected people. Nielsen Norman group did a study showing
3 users gets you about 75% of the total usability problems. Speaking with 5-6 is a good
number.
Before we talk about how to interview customers correctly you’re
probably wondering, how many people should I speak with?

15. FRAMEWORK
FOR INTERVIEWS
TO LEARN ABOUT
BEHAVIOR &
PROBLEMS WITHOUT
DIRECTLY ASKING
FOR SOLUTIONS
1. what was the hardest part about?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?

16. HERE’S A SIMPLE
FRAMEWORK FOR
INTERVIEWS
Meet Dave, a tech
startup founder
with 3 employees
“Knowing the bare minimum of what I had to do”
“When I wanted my company to be legit”
“I always felt like I could get in trouble later”
“Felt like lawyers were reaming you every second”
“I paid lawyers to help me set it up”
1. what was the hardest part about ______?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?

17. It’s tempting to give Dave exactly what
he wants, in this case some type of
feature that gives him access to lawyers.
But we as a design team know that the
solution was the give him the assurance
of ‘ knowing the bare minimum’ and ‘not
getting in trouble later’ without ever
even needing to speak with a lawyer.
“Knowing the bare minimum of what I had to do”
“When I wanted my company to be legit”
“I always felt like I could get in trouble later”
“Felt like lawyers were reaming you every second”
“I paid lawyers to help me set it up”
1. what was the hardest part about ______?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?

18. INTERVIEW
TRY IT
OURSELVES
Observe
OBSERVE

19. Why we observe
We observe people with our products
or in their natural habitat.
Research interviews can teaches us
about people’s attitudes and what
they say they do but when we
observe we see true behaviors.
Pairing observation, listening, and
doing it ourselves lets see the
workarounds and contradictions.
The starting point for most of our
projects is observation in it’s natural
setting.
Observation can sharpen our awareness
of how people respond to particular
arrangements; we notice what people
already do intuitively. That helps us
make predictions about how people
interpret this things we design.
-Jane Fulton Suri, IDEO

20. So after listening to, watching , and doing it yourself
you want a list of the following
How are people finding creative ways to solve
problems they don’t even realize they have.
What are the contradictions between what
people say and what they actually do
Workarounds
Contradictions
shows you that
people actually
want your
product
makes sure your
product is
designed correctly

21. People are already solving their problems somehow, the
Workarounds are so unconscious that people don’t even realize
that they do it.
We observe because there are actions that are so obvious to
people they don’t even think to mention it

22. But when I asked him, ‘how did you
solve this problem?’ He said
1. found out his friend’s dad owns a
specialty athletic boutique 2.
reminds himself of the release date
3. finds out if his friend is working
there 4. asks him if it’s there 5.
pays him ahead of time 6.asks
friend to hide it under counter 7.
organizes his day to go pick it up
after school
One athlete mentioned an
occasional problem of
specialty gear being sold out
in his size but that “it wasn’t
a big deal to him”
We once spoke with athletes
about their buying behaviors
of specialty athletic cleats
that costs over $200

23. His workaround validates our
solution but we heard a
contradiction between his
attitude and workaround so we
need to frame our product so he
sees the value in it.
But when I asked him, ‘how did you
solve this problem?’
1. found out his friend’s dad owns a
specialty athletic boutique 2.
reminds himself of the release date
3. finds out if his friend is working
there 4. asks him if it’s there 5.
pays him ahead of time 6.asks
friend to hide it under counter 7.
organizes his day to go pick it up
after school
One athlete mentioned an
occasional problem of
specialty gear being sold out
in his size but that “it wasn’t
a big deal to him”

24. OBSERVE
INTERVIEW
TRY IT
OURSELVES
Do it yourself
but let’s start
here

25. Experiencing something in the first
person can show you what interviews
and observing can’t

26. Synthesis is about the organizing of chaos and the
revelation of clarity. It creates the stage for
problem understanding. Here are some simple
techniques for synthesis
After conducting research we synthesize

27. Archetypes help organize useful quotes,
data, and anecdotes from interviews
“A quote that sums up his interview”
Goals
What are some of Dave’s goals?
What did he say?
Quotes that stood out to us
What did we observe?
What we noticed but he didn’t mention
Behaviors, habits, and workarounds
Meet Dave, again

28. User Journeys based on research visualizes the current
experience for how people solve problems. Here is a
sample for how people select an HR solution.
Trigger
Why did you start looking for an HR solution?
Search
Where did you start looking?
Compare
How many services did you look at?
Decide
What was your deciding factor?
Sign Up
How did you feel after you chose?

29. Affinity diagrams organize and prioritize insights
Design Mandates
Insights
Observations
I asked someone
who did it
I asked lawyers I didn’t compare
That are
personalized to
them
wanted to hire my
first employee
In the right
location
People don’t
know what they
don’t know
People just want
it dealt with
Looking for
someone they
trust
People need
to compare
They need to
know you can
be trusted
Within their
family

30. Design the right thing,
before designing the thing right
thoughts on designing the thing right

31. in order to design the thing right we ask
“what is the best way to solve a problem?”
Designing the thing right is about designing for the way people
already think and matching mental models. We know we designed
the right thing when people intuitively know how to use a product
without ever even seeing it before.

32. 1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, STAND UP
GET CHECK
4. CHECKS ARE ALREADY SPLIT
5. TIP IS ALREADY INCLUDED
6. PAY AT COUNTER
1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER BRINGS CHECK
4. FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT CHECK
5. HOW MUCH SHOULD WE TIP?
6. WAIT FOR WAITER TO COME BACK
7. VENMO
5A. (STARE AT FRIEND WHO’S GOOD AT MATH)
4A. (FIGHT FOR CHECK)
mental model of eating out in the US mental model of eating out in the
Costa Rica

33. 1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER
BRINGS CHECK
4. CHECKS ARE ALREADY SPLIT
5. TIP IS ALREADY INCLUDED
6. STAND UP, GO PAY IN COUNTER
1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER BRINGS CHECK
4. FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT CHECK
5. HOW MUCH SHOULD WE TIP?
6. WAIT FOR WAITER TO COME BACK
7. VENMO
5A. (STARE AT FRIEND WHO’S GOOD AT MATH)
4A. (FIGHT FOR CHECK)
Eating out in the US Eating out in the Costa Rica
Designing the thing right is about designing for the
way people already think and matching mental
models.
If we opened a restaurant in Costa Rica we would
have to match their Mental Models for eating out, the
same is true for the products we design.

34. INTERVIEW
FRAMEWORK
FOR LEARNING
ABOUT MENTAL
MODELS
“where do you go next?”
3. Before each step ask..
“what do you expect will
happen?”
4.…and then ask
1. SHOW YOUR PRODUCT OR PROTOTYPE
2.GIVE A SAMPLE TASK
5. KEY AN EYE OUT FOR ANY CONFUSION

35. do you know the workarounds?
do you know the contradictions
between what people say and
what they actually do?
CONCLUSION
Designing the right thing..
when you ask ‘where do you go
next?’ and ‘what do you think
will happen?’
do people consistently give you
the correct answer?
…designing the thing right

36. Thank You
HJ Kwon
@hatchejota

37. DESIGN
RESEARCH:
VISION +
DISCOVERY
PROTOTYPING PRODUCTION LAUNCH +
SCALE
MANAGEMENT
+ HANDOVER
a guide on connecting Design
Research to Prototyping
Coming soon
T E S T
LEA
RN
M
AKE